The sound of footsteps echoed inside the biological battleship, and a squad of 100 imperial guards led by Captain Valoris pierced into the largest command ship of the Hive Fleet like a sharp sword.

They had just cleared the passage connecting the chambers, and what was left behind was a bloody road paved with Zerg remains. The corpses of hundreds of thousands of Knifeworms, Warriorworms and Gunworms, Tyrannosaurus and other Tyrannical beasts were piled up like a mountain, and the yellow-green blood formed strange suspended droplets in the biological ship with abnormal gravity.

"The node organism is in the main chamber." Valoris' voice came through the encrypted channel, as calm as if discussing the weather, "Standard decontamination protocol, leave no one alive."

The imperial guards silently adjusted their formation, their golden armor glowing coldly under the dim green fluorescence of the bio-ship.

When they stepped over the last fleshy membrane, they were greeted by dead silence.

The main chamber was abnormally empty, the floor covered with a blanket woven from nerve fibers, and the walls were pulsating with the faint blue light of bioelectricity.

Suddenly, all the Custodians' power armor alarms screamed at the same time.

"Roar!"

The roar tore through the real space, causing the fleshy walls of the chamber to tremble.

One of the imperial guards standing at the outermost edge didn't even have time to turn around before a chitinous bone blade glowing purple pierced through his chest.

The power armor that allowed him to walk under the bombardment of macro-cannons was pierced through like parchment, and the breastplate made of adamantium shattered like fragile glass.

"Enemy attack!" Valoris had already unsheathed his halberd, but it was too late.

The body of the Imperial Guard was lifted high, and his reinforced muscle fibers were torn like wet paper under the bone blade of the Norn messenger.

With a teeth-grinding sound, the golden warrior who had served for more than two centuries was torn in half alive, and his internal organs and power fluid sprayed on the golden armor of his companions around him.

It was only then that the attacker's full appearance became clear.

The Norn Messenger is half a meter taller than the Imperial Guards, and his entire body is covered with a dark purple biological shell with blue psychic lines flowing on the surface of the shell.

Its blue, beast-like pupils stared directly at the invader in front of it.

At the end of its six arms are killing tools of different forms, including two bone blades, a pair of giant pincers and two tentacles that can release psychic energy.

The most terrifying thing was the scorpion-tail-like appendage behind it, and the barbs at the tip of the tail were still dripping with Cassius' blood.

"Tactical formation!" Valoris shouted, "It's the Norn messenger!"

The well-trained Custodes immediately changed their formation, but the Norn emissaries were faster.

One of its tentacles suddenly emitted a blinding blue light, and the helmet of the imperial guard Dmitri standing in the second row exploded without warning.

The finely crafted helmet exploded like a ripe watermelon, and the head inside was crushed by invisible psychic energy, with brain matter and skull fragments splattering radially onto the visors of the surrounding comrades.

"For the Emperor!"

Another Custodian took the opportunity to lunge, the Guardian's spear piercing the back of the Norn emissary.

When the tip of the spear was three inches away from the shell, a blue psychic barrier suddenly appeared.

The guard felt a shock in his palm, and then a piercing pain in his chest. He saw that the scorpion tail of the Norn messenger had pierced through his breastplate at some point, and the barb was accurately stuck in the core of the power armor.

"Asshole!"

Alpha's curse came to an abrupt end as the Norn messenger swung his scorpion tail, lifted him up and smashed him against the fleshy wall in the distance.

The Custodian's body made a horrific sound of breaking bones as it hit the ground, sliding to the ground like a rag doll.

Valoris finally saw the enemy's fighting mode: this monster not only possessed terrifying physical strength, but also had a tactical intuition that was almost precognitive.

It can always avoid fatal attacks half a second in advance and counterattack in the most efficient way.

What's even more terrifying is that its fighting style carries the precision and elegance unique to the Imperial Guards. This is not the instinct of a wild beast, but an art of killing that has been honed through thousands of trials and tribulations.

"The third team is holding them back! The first team is following me!" Valoris decisively changed his tactics, "Aim at the joints!"

Twenty guards immediately launched a feint attack, and the storm shields formed a solid defensive wall.

The Norn messenger's pair of bone blades slashed at the shield in the front, sparks flew, and deep dents were left on the shield made of pure gold.

But it didn't notice that Valoris had already circled to the flank, and the halberd went straight for its second joint on the right side with a sound of breaking through the air.

"boom!"

The loud noise of metal hitting carapace was deafening. The Norn Messenger let out a painful roar for the first time, its right arm drooped limply, and blue fluid oozed out from the cracks in its carapace.

However, its counterattack came faster - its left pincer suddenly twisted at an angle that violated the laws of physics and clamped the sneak attacking imperial guard.

"Your Majesty..." the imperial guard growled.

The Norn Emissary's giant claws slowly tightened, and every armor plate of the Custodians' power armor groaned under the heavy burden.

Hydraulic oil and blood spurted out from the seams, and finally, accompanied by a crisp sound of metal twisting, the golden warrior was crushed alive inside the power armor.

"Now! Kill him!" Valoris' voice trembled with anger.

Dozens of remaining imperial guards suddenly rose up at the same time.

The storm hammer smashed into the Norn emissary's knees, the power sword stabbed the ganglion in its abdomen, and the flamethrower was aimed at the wound on its injured right arm.

The entire chamber was instantly filled with explosions and psychic flashes, and the energy turbulence caused the inner walls of the bio-ship to twitch violently.

For the first time, the Norn emissary showed signs of fatigue.

Gaps appeared in its flawless defense, and the psychic patterns on its shell began to flicker.

But it was still fighting back frantically. The scorpion tail pierced the throat of a Guardian, then the bone blade split the breastplate of another warrior, and the psychic lightning released by the tentacles burned the third Guardian to charcoal.

Valoris saw the right moment and stabbed the Norn messenger's mouthparts with all his strength.

This attack condensed his four hundred years of combat experience, and it was so fast that even the air was ionized to produce blue sparks.

"Die! Alien!"

At the moment when the halberd tip was about to hit, the Norn messenger made a move that made all the imperial guards shudder. It actually made a standard blocking posture like a human warrior.

The bone blade on his left arm accurately held the halberd, and his right pincer swung towards Valoris' head at the same time.

At the critical moment, Valoris let go of his weapon and performed a tactical roll to avoid the fatal blow.

The side decoration of his helmet was completely cut off, revealing a pale cheek with blood oozing underneath.

"The bastard is learning from us." growled a Custodian.

The Norn messenger seemed to understand this.

It slowly stood up, threw its severely injured right arm behind it, and assumed a fighting stance exactly the same as that of the Imperial Guards.

The psychic patterns on the carapace lit up again, brighter than before.

Valoris wiped the blood from his face and picked up the power sword of his fallen comrade from the ground, crossing the two weapons in his hands.

"Well," the captain's voice was icy, "let's see how fast you can learn."

The surviving guards re-formed their ranks, their golden armor stained with the blood of their companions and enemies.

The Norn Messenger roared in defiance, psychic energy flowing through its six arms.

In this biological battleship floating in the void, the most elite warriors of the Human Empire and the most perfect killing machine of the Zerg began to confront each other head-on.